Running certainly is no walk in the park for us! The easy bit is looking the part, but we persevere as we are far from natural athletes and runners. At times, we can struggle and have to push ourselves to keep putting one foot in front of the other - so a Half Marathon is an enormous mountain for us to conquer! But what helps to get us over the finish line is knowing that we still can and that we can maybe do some good from our hobby.

 
So, our new motivation is completing the Colchester Half Marathon in May and the Ipswich Half Marathon in September, and in the process not just get a shiny medal but to raise money for both the Gifts of Kindness at End of Life care fund and The Cancer Information Centres at our local hospitals to help support patients and their loved ones during possibly one of the most difficult and emotional times a person and family can experience.
Sadly both of us have lost our Dad's far too early and have experienced the pain and challenges of end of life care intimately and know that the services are invaluable to all of the people impacted during this vulnerable time. This is why we want to raise money to support initiatives and projects that are funded by the Gifts of Kindness at End of Life care and the Cancer Information Centres. All the money that we raise will contribute to continuing initiatives like Butterfly Volunteers who sit with patients so they are not on their own, Memory boxes, Butterfly Bags which contain essentials for when loved ones find themselves unexpectedly called to the ward, and maintaining the invaluable Time Garden at Colchester. It will also help the running of the current services provided by the Cancer Information Centres such as specialist information and advice, counselling services, complementary therapies, physical activity services, practical support, benefits advice and signposting. As well as supporting these existing initiatives, the funds are vital for identifying new initiatives and improvements.

We know there are plenty of worthy causes but we hope that you will support our endeavours and motivate us to put one foot in front of the other 25,000 times each time as we embark on 13.1 miles of plodding fuelled by determination and grit to raise money for these vital services with our two Half Marathons.